Peterson incident “all on video”

For now, the events leading to the Saturday morning arrest of Vikings running back Adrian Peterson aren’t clear. Soon, they likely will be.

A source with knowledge of the situation tells PFT that the incident culminating in Peterson’s arrest was captured by one or more surveillance cameras. Multiple persons also witnessed the event.

According to the source, Peterson, his girlfriend, and some family members were at a nightclub in Houston. At closing time, a group of police officers entered the club, and they began instructing the remaining patrons to leave.

Peterson wanted to get some water before he left, but an officer told Peterson that he needed to leave. Some words apparently were exchanged, but Peterson eventually walked to the exit with one of the club’s bouncers.

It’s believed that one of the officers then jumped on Peterson’s back from behind and tried to take him down. (Key word: “tried.”) Other officers then joined the fray and completed the arrest.

Peterson was charged with resisting arrest, which implies he was being arrested for something else. He is charged for now with no other crime.

Multiple witnesses recorded portions of the incident with their phones, but it’s currently believed that the best view of the interaction between Peterson and the police will come from the surveillance camera(s) at the club.

I don’t remember what kind of of lawyer you are, Florio, but I’m sure you aware that people are routinely arrested for “resisting arrest” with no basis for arrest and very often are charged with “assault on an officer” or some such BS when the officers jumped/beat up the suspect.

This is a tough time for all NFL players, they have a lot of money to spend, a lot of free time, and staying home is not an option. They have to close the night club down and party like a rock star- all while staying one step ahead of the law.

The police in this country are honestly getting out of control. For those of you that don’t go out anymore this isn’t a rare occurrence of police being on complete power trips at bar close. You have to realize this happens to young males across the nation at bar close all the time and it becomes a, ‘your word vs a cops’ if it’s not on video. I hope this can bring some attention to what our police force is evolving into. Try to invoke your 4th & 5th amendment rights with cops these days and you’re instantly arrested.

I don’t believe AP should have been out at this hour – especially since he’s supposed to be rehabbing his knee. However, this initial report doesn’t give me an explanation why he was arrested and charged with resisting arrest.

How do you get arrested ONLY for resisting arrest? What were the cops doing there in the first place, then?

You can be charged with resisting arrest when you interfere with a lawful arrest, regardless of if it’s your arrest or someone elses. In addition, some jurisdictions only list the most serious charge: ie: disorderly conduct/resisting arrest.

I would suggest that we all wait to find out the facts prior to finding any of the parties involved quilty of something we know nothing about. That is how our system is meant to work.

I don’t remember what kind of of lawyer you are, Florio, but I’m sure you aware that people are routinely arrested for “resisting arrest” with no basis for arrest and very often are charged with “assault on an officer” or some such BS when the officers jumped/beat up the suspect.

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Actually this is very dependent on where the person is arrested. In some places like where I live, if you curse at an officer or address him in anything but a respectful manner, you can be charged with obstruction of justice or failing to comply with the order of an officer of the law. But you can’t be charged with resisting arrest unless they had already informed you that you were being arrested on an initial charge and then you resisted. Also these cases usually don’t have video of the whole incident either, so the police can massage the facts and be less than honest to support their charges. If this is indeed ALL on tape, it’s not going to happen like it normally does. It’ll have to be by the book.

@cags777- Absolutely correct. Without making assumptions, my money is on AD doing absolutely nothing to justify an arrest but the fact remains is that he is suppose to be rehabbing his knee.

Also, this is about him choosing to go out until 230 in the morning when one would think that a guy that is focused on whatever rehab that idiot training staff which the Vikings employ has provided Peterson must have not included the “going out to 230 in the morning when you should continue to be working on getting on the field” of which one would think making sure that you follow your schedule on Saturday morning is a part of what should have been his daily routine.

And this is coming right after the Rookie Symposium. If AD was smart, he would start setting an example for the younger guys on the Vikings, which continues to be one of the worst managed organizations in the NFL and guys like Harvin, AD and Jared Allen would be much better off being with another franchise than that band of morons that are running the Vikings.

I wanna know what he was apparently being arrested for in the first place. If that short paragraph of a description is what really happened, I’d be on the phone with lawyers getting ready for a lawsuit.

Seriously nothing good comes out of being at a club at 2:30 in the morning… Police do clear out clubs btw to earlier poster, if there’s a history of trouble… Cops probably did not know who AP was and treated him like they do any normal citizen they order around….

Trouble won’t find you if you’re not there to find…. All athlete’s and celebs should just avoid places like this….

So wait, AP wanted to grab some water before he left, exchanged some words with a bouncer, left without incident otherwise, then got arrested? What the hell? What for? This REEKS of police overreacting.

rcunningham says:
Jul 7, 2012 2:54 PM
So wait, AP wanted to grab some water before he left, exchanged some words with a bouncer, left without incident otherwise, then got arrested? What the hell? What for? This REEKS of police overreacting.

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Actually, this reeks of all the information has not come to surface yet.

I was half expecting most comments on here to support the cops (for one thing, most NFL fans support the military and war, I think). I was wrong. It is good to know that so many on here are sick and tired of the American police state! There is hope for liberty in this country after all. thanks!

When cops arrest a guy because he wants a drink of water, then we know that something is seriously wrong with the good ol’ US of A.

How about having a little respect for the police until we find out what really happened? Adrian is a stand-up guy and doesn’t get into trouble (except for the occasional speeding ticket), so he deserves the benefit of the doubt. The police deserve nothing less.

“I was half expecting most comments on here to support the cops (for one thing, most NFL fans support the military and war, I think). I was wrong. It is good to know that so many on here are sick and tired of the American police state! There is hope for liberty in this country after all. thanks!

When cops arrest a guy because he wants a drink of water, then we know that something is seriously wrong with the good ol’ US of A.”

It’s not chic to support the police these days. If it were, you’d see every SUV with a ‘Support the Cops’ magnet and country songs everywhere would praise the “boys in blue”. Are there cops who abuse their power? Absolutely. Does it mean all of them are bad. Of course not. Next time you need one to help you out, call a crackhead and see where it gets you.

Cops don’t arrest people for wanting a drink of water. Cops arrest people because they disobey orders (warranted or, in this case, likely grossly unwarranted). That’s when you make a quick call – a drink of water or a night in jail – which is more important to you? It’s really not that difficult.

WOW WOW WOW…. Those cops are in for some serious shyt. I support our Armed Forces and our Police Force… but sometimes a couple bad apples in the Police Force are there to use the position to exercise a narcissistic need for power.

Thank God for video tape because everyone would be against AP if it were not the case. I mean the public always takes the Police word over an athlete, unless there is overwhelming evidence to show excessive force.

It’s really simple. If AP would have complied with a direct request by the police, he would have been fine. Instead, he chose to hear their request and then blatantly defy the cops. This tends to piss off cops anywhere. It doesn’t matter who you are. If you don’t listen to cops, you’re gonna get taken down.

I live in Las Vegas & work the Front Door at Pure Nightclub. Out here, that’s NOT normal. Police show up once every 2-3wks, in uniform, and do a simple walk-thru just to “see how things are.” They NEVER get involved, help or assist my guys inside with walking anyone out at the end of the night or tell them to go UNLESS we call them. Too much is at stake for us with Business & Liquor License’s. Not sure how they run/do things in Houston, but you’ll never see that in Vegas, not even on New Years.

Hey y’all, bars in Texas close PROMPTLY at 0200, no exceptions, no excuses. If you’re in there after that you are trespassing, and that is likely why the cops were called. If you are in there drinking much after 0200 the place is at risk for losing their alcohol license. Adrian must not understand what “drink up and get out” means. He wasn’t arrested because he wanted a bottle of water, he was arrested because he would not leave when he was asked.

@grudenthediva, I hear what you are saying and agree police serve a vital function in our society, but the defense you are offering does not past the sniff test. If one cop was out of line and abusive in his authority, why didn’t the other boys in blue pull him up and set him at ease? As you say, drink of water or arrest with the accompanying paperwork? It really isn’t that difficult.

This is the problem many people are having with the police: the lack of transparency and the lack of accountability. Why don’t they hold each other’s feet to the fire to ensure the highest degree of ethics? Too often, the shield is more about protecting the brotherhood than about protecting the citizenry. If you are a good cop and you see a fellow officer out of line or stepping over the line, why sit back and let it happen? Why not do what good cops are suppose to do and put an end to the nonsense? As you said, there are good ones and there are bad ones, but when the good ones allow the bad ones to do what they do, it is difficult for us plain citizens to tell the difference between the two.

The way I see it, guys like AP, Plaxico Burress, Pacman Jones… They have absolutely no need to ever leave the safety of their own private, secured homes to party. When you’re an NFL Pro-Bowler, I’m pretty sure you have the cash to make sure this never happens to you.
AP, you want to drink and dance? Call some people over to one of your homes and pay your boys a few dollars to watch things. No cops, no videos, no idiots trying to be a “hero,” if that’s what you believe happened.
Plax, you feel more secure with a gun around? Hire a guy with a CCW and he doesn’t get plastered and shoot you in the leg.
Pacman, you want some t n’ a? Call an escort service from your Sugarland home. Call 2 escort services.
No matter who is at fault, AP doesn’t need to get himself into these situations and it’s pure stupidity. End of story. If you like interacting with the public in that way, stay sober and try to make it happen before 2am.

Before one makes a finding of fact, one should consider that many police forces throughout the country will admit that off duty officers working in bars often leads to trouble. It would not be a first that an off duty officer was out of line. It could also be the fact that perhaps Mr. Peterson was out of line.
One thing for sure Mr. Goodell has already started his own investigation. I wonder if he flew in and took fingerprints himself.

Whatever the true and complete facts turn out to be, the entire matter is a shot to my gut. AP has always seemed to really be a celeb/superstar with his head on straight enough to have avoided this.

I agree that I never hear about anything good happening at a nightclub at anytime, especially after 9:00 when most kitchens close. I wish my stars would avoid nightclubs altogether. But, I am a 58 yo happily married guy of modest means. AP and so many other NFL players are single men in their 20’s, some with extraordinary wealth (or at least cash). Some of my young employees tell me that the nightclub “scene” nowadays doesn’t even get started until 10:00 p.m. For me, the monsters are out by then and I am usually asleep with a remote in my hand trying to turn the news on!

As currently couched, the description of the incident paints an unfavorable picture of the police action. That may change or it might get even worse. One thing is for certain, at 2:30 a.m. no one should be on their best game and more probably had short fuses, less than perfect vision as is common in bars and probably audio interferences; all of which could have erupted faster and more violently than the same set of circumstances might have elicited at 2:30 p.m. in a Cracker Barrel!

I just hope that a mole hill was turned into a mountain in an instant early this morning and that neither AP nor the Houston Police Department will suffer permanent scarring over this thing.

I regret the climate in our country that has been expressed by assumedly black males in certain posts above. There is absolutely no place in our country for racial profiling that apparently leads to the unnecessary harassment of a large, valuable and meaningful segment of our population.

Finally, even in rehab, a worker like AP should get a Saturday night pass to go out with friends and family. I just wish he would not make it at a bar!

He was out with his girl and family, wtf does rehabbing his knee got to do with him relaxing with his family, regardless of the time or where it’s at. They got rights like every non athlete to be able to have a good time too. He’a stud when he needs to be, that’s all that matters. I’m sure this will get resolved quickly, whatever happened. From what I READ it sounds like some bull, but we’ll see when it all comes out. Cops can go on power trips. Especially if you do the littlest thing wrong that they don’t like. I got friends and family who are cops too, thankfully they’re not like that though.

Viking fan for the past 35 years, police officer for the past 16…
Resisting arrest is a common charge and can be used by itself. In this instance Adrian was apparently told what to do, more than once, and he didn’t do it. Where I work, for pushing the officer, he would have an additional charge of battery on a LEO.
All the facts are not out yet, also I don’t see any video on YouTube.
I hate to read this article as I am a huge Adrian fan. It this holds true though, I will have lost respect for him. He’s not above the law.
Also, when the article says off duty officer, I don’t think that means a plainclothes officer who is also a patron at the bar. It probably means an officer in uniform who is being paid by the bar to work security there. Also very common.

Respect in life is a 2 way arrangement. Asking someone to be respectful of law enforcement personnel while law personnel treat said citizen like crap isnt the way to go. Im not a Vike fan, im a Houston resident. And the HPD clearly has many problems….from its crime lab falsifying evidence to unlawful beatings of unarmed residents to citizens being pulled over on roadways by off duty cops not in uniform and somehow winding up being shot and killed only to then have the grand jury “no bill” the officer and say use of force was justified. AP got off lucky here….with HPD’s recent track record its a wonder he isnt a resident of the city morgue.

Where I work, for pushing the officer, he would have an additional charge of battery on a LEO.
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I don’t see anywhere in this article that AD “pushed” an officer. I don’t believe it because that is assault and would clearly be charged.

This source doesn’t sound very reliable (this wreaks of that episode of Family Guy were Stewie remembers Lois spanking him for acting up with her having huge muscles and pummeling him with fists). Cops don’t randomly walk into nightclubs and tell people to leave, I doubt the bouncer was just escorting Mr. Peterson just to make sure he got to the door OK and I REALLY doubt the cop just randomly jumped on AP with hundreds of witnesses their to verify police brutality.

I’d put money down that AP and his friends (including probably the “source” here) were acting like drunk fools and the bar owner called the cops to help the bouncer remove them.

Peterson did nothing wrong here, at least it appears that way. We are living in a Police State. Cop is lucky he didnt get stiff armed and shoved to the ground like that Pittsburgh defender. I think Gay was his name

I think Peterson, unaccustomed to being overly intoxicated, did absolutely nothing wrong to bring attention to himself. A uniformed cop jumped on his back for no reason at all. That happens all the time.

Reading through the comments, I’d like to give the benifit of doubt to both sides. AD is human and will make mistakes, cops are human and will make mistakes. Let’s hope this can be solved and we can all move on, but what I’d like to comment on is police in bars at closing time. I was with a band for several years and been in bars at closing time and after more than I can name, and cops will come in and look around but rarely will they do anything. I can only remember a handful of times I saw them do anything and in those times, the people deserved it because the bar called them. For the most part though, they let the bar secuirty handle the crowd and I’ve seen more than my fair share of people litterly thrown out of a bar by security guards, who could be off hours cops, I don’t know, but never have seen them arrested, mostly just tossed out. But AD is not a skinny 22 year old guy who drank too much, so I can see why this could’ve been blown out more then is should’ve by both sides. Until the truth comes out and the whole story, I choose to give it as one big misunderstanding.

The details of the AP situation are still unknown but what it brings into question by so many of the readers is how far the police force across America has gone. I am shock at how little my fellow readers have given up on their constitutional rights. Have we forgotten the true role of the police in our communities, it’s to prevent crime, protect and serve our communities? Can anyone explain to me as to what crime was he preventing, or how was he protecting the community. If there is evidence that this man was intoxicated, then the police have a right to protect the citizens from yet another drunk driver on the road. Our founding fathers would be shock at the erosion of our individual liberties that they fought the British to protect. Sticking up for your rights does not constitute a misdemeanor or a treat to law enforcement. Even in the military there are checks and balances so that your superior charges to direct you with lawful orders. Never forget, as citizen we have given the police a great deal of authority in exchange for a great deal of professional responsibility, not so that he or she may have become “pissed off” and bully the citizens.

Look . Why do people keep saying pro athletes and celebs should just” stay home”. They are people too. F* that. They’re Not here to raise your children. That’s your job. Role model? Really? What happened to the parents responsibility. If I could live almost everyday like a vacation ……damn right I would. Just how this incident went down I don’t know but stop acting like celebs should live in cages.